Gunmen also targeted numerous cafes and restaurants in the city's centre while explosions went off outside Stade de France in northern Paris, where France and Germany were playing an international football match.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called the attacks "despicable", while the UN Security Council offered its condolences to France and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attacks which took place in several places in Paris... causing numerous deaths and injuries among civilians," the UN Security Council said in a statement.

US President Barack Obama denounced the attacks as an "outrageous attempt to terrorise innocent civilians".

"This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share," he said in a statement delivered in the White House. "This is a heartbreaking situation, and obviously those of us here in the United States know what it's like and we've gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves.

"We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance the people of France need to respond."

Universal condemnation

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "shocked" by the attacks, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "deeply shaken by the news and pictures that are reaching us from Paris".

I am shocked by events in Paris tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people. We will do whatever we can to help.